Life cycle assessments for biomass derived sustainable biopolymer & energy co-generation

Sustainable polymers derived from biomass have been considered as promising candidates to reduce the dependency on fossil based polymers. In this study, a conceptual process design was conducted for citrus waste derived biopolymer production with energy co-generation, and its eco-friendliness was evaluated through life cycle assessment by comparison against a petroleum derived polymer production process. Based on the current research, two original conclusions were proposed. The first one is that energy-efficient separation techniques are of critical importance for the design of eco-friendly chemical processes. Only focusing on the use of sustainable feedstocks with high conversion reactions cannot guarantee an environmentally-friendly final product. The second one is that biomass should be considered not only as a raw material, but more importantly, as an energy source for the sustainable synthesis of biochemicals. In other words, a sustainable process should be designed such that a portion of biomass is used to provide clean energy for process operation, with the rest converted for product generation